A total of 45 containers sent from a company in the Republic of Korea were found to hold wasted catalyzers containing vanadium, according to the local customs department.

The cargos have no approval from the State Environmental Protection Administration. It is the largest amount of foreign waste discovered at Ningbo Port in recent years.

According to Ningbo customs, the port has handled a large quantity of waste materials and scrapped machines imported from abroad in recent years.

The foreign garbage was mainly sold to neighboring Taizhou, where small enterprises had the scrapped machines dismantled and extracted rare elements from the industrial waste. The garbage has seriously damaged the environment.

In recent years, various kinds of garbage from developed countries has flowed into China via different channels. Such a danger has aroused the attention of Chinese lawmakers.

During the Spring Festival in February, Taizhou Customs in Zhejiang Province detected 466.66 tons of household garbage which mainly contained used ring-pull cans and plastic film.

Last December, the Lianyungang Customs in Jiangsu Province intercepted 339 tons of solid waste, which was shipped back to the Republic of Korea.

In 2001, customs in south China's Guangdong Province uncovered a large amount of imported garbage including used tires, clothes, home appliances and computers.

"If no urgent action is taken, China might become a dumping ground for garbage from developed countries," Xie Taijian, a deputy to National People's Congress (NPC) from Guangdong said recently at the annual session of NPC.

It is estimated that more than 500 million tons of toxic waste were produced around the world, a growing portion of which is transferred to developing countries.

"We have noticed the entry and are preparing to enact laws to ward off foreign garbage," Guangdong Governor Lu Ruihua said.

Some companies are importing foreign waste aiming to make a profit while ignoring laws and rules on environmental protection.

"Though there exist short-term profits in such a business, the harm is serious and will be long-lasting," said Huang Guosheng, a senior researcher with the Guangdong Electronic Technology Research Institute.

(Xinhua News Agency April 10, 2002)